Handsome
by Onyx Lexa
Summary: Hinata finally gathers the courage to tell her crush what she really thinks about him after Sakura does so too...but not in the good way. This is my story for the NaruHina Fluffy Day Event 2018 Hope you like it! #NHFD/2018


"…and both teams showed that they are perfectly capable of working together even though it hasn't been long since they were teamed together." Kakashi finished his report to Lord Hokage who nodded in approval along with Kurenai.

It has been only a month since the genin teams at the academy orientation were announced, and team 7 and 8 along with their sensei Kakashi Hatake and Kurenai Yuhi were now in Lord Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's office finishing a report on a successful teamwork mission they had been given after Naruto very loudly made it clear that he was sick of stupid D-rank missions. But he wasn't the only one. Kiba, also the boisterous one in his team, he too felt like he was ready for a better mission.

Hiruzen was not able to give them a C-rank mission yet but when Kiba's outburst came after Naruto's he got an idea. If he gave both teams two separate C-rank missions he was afraid that even with the help of their sensei they might not be ready for it as they probably hadn't even gotten to get to know each other that well yet, but if he puts both teams on one C-rank mission they should do fine. Deciding that it was a good decision he assigned them an escort mission.

They were to return Princess Haruka Nawagashi, who was visiting her grandparents in the Leaf village, back to her home in the Land of Honey and make sure she was safe and sound. The trip should take a day and a half to get there and a day and a half for them to return.

The two teams were very pleased with the mission. Sakura got to spend the whole three days with Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba got a better mission that they wanted, Shino got to gather new species of insects and Hinata…got to be near her crush for a longer period of time than she was used to. It was like a dream come true.

The mission had started off nicely, the two teams were enjoying being outside the Village, especially Naruto because it was his first time. They were taking lots of training breaks and even Haruka was enjoying being in their company as she wasn't used to being around ninjas. She was particularly impressed with Naruto's clones and Hinata's byakugan as she had never seen anything like it before.

And she wasn't the only one impressed by Hinata's eyes… Naruto was too.

After seeing the veins popping out of Hinata's cheeks he walked up to her and getting really close to her face yelled out in amazement, asking her about it and calling her eyes 'cool' and 'awesome'. This caused the shy Hyuga to redden and faint on the spot and Naruto to freak out as he didn't know what was going on. Kurenai told him that it was because she had exhausted herself training, but she knew the real reason. But Naruto didn't, so as the mission progressed and she would blush, squeak, fidget, stutter or look away every time he would get close to her, he would call her weird.

He didn't think anything of it, but it hurt the timid wallflower every time he would describe her as weird.

Sakura was 'pretty', 'cute', 'smart', 'cool' and 'Sakura-chan' while she was just…'weird'.

Her crush spent a lot of time fawning over the pinkette which made Hinata feel very insecure and envious. The only things that would get his attention off of Sakura and onto her were her eyes and her cooking. As they made breaks for meals and naps Hinata would be the one to cook the rabbits and fish they caught in the woods and everyone enjoyed the meal. Naruto would praise her cooking making her blush furiously. But nothing made her blush more than when he had said that she would make a great wife. The poor girl invented a new shade of red.

That comment made Sakura land a punch on Naruto's skull and yell at him, telling him that being a wife means much more than just cooking and cleaning.

And just like all the other times Sakura punched Naruto in front of her, Hinata wanted to stop her and tell her that she should be nicer to him…but she just couldn't gather enough courage to do so.

However, that did sadly for her show her just how much he liked Sakura, because no matter how many times she punched him, yelled at him, insulted him and called him names, he would never defend himself, he would never yell back. In fact, he would be the one to apologize instead of her.

 _Oh, Naruto-kun…if you would just pay more attention to me, I would never ever ever hurt you like that…_

Although, she was glad that the names Sakura would use were not too insulting, just the typical: idiot, stupid, moron, bonehead, dumbass and jerk.

But one day, the day they were getting closer to the main gate of the Leaf village after they had finished their mission… The mission was easy except that they had run into some thugs that tried to kidnap the princess but their sensei took care of them, with the minor assistance from the genin. They were more of a distraction, however, Sasuke did manage to land a good punch on one of the kidnapers causing Sakura to fawn over how cool and perfect he was. That made Naruto very jealous, especially when Sasuke had called him a chicken.

That day, when they finally got home, Sakura had used a new word for the blonde that made something in Hinata snap.

After they were dismissed from the Hokage's office and dismissed by their sensei both teams were heading home. Naruto caught up to Sakura in the hallway.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" He ran up to her with a wide grin.

She stopped dead in her tracks in annoyance, she didn't have time for this. She needed to find Sasuke as he had just disappeared right after they were dismissed.

"What?" She answered angrily.

His grin grew wider. "Wanna go on a date? I know this amazing ramen stand and they make really goo-"

He was interrupted by a frustrated yell from the pinkette. "Will you quit asking me out already! You know that I'm going to say no, idiot!"

"But why won't you go out with me?" He asked with a hopeful smile.

A vein popped on Sakura's wide forehead and her fists clenched so hard her nails were digging into her palms. " **Why would I ever say yes to someone so stupid and ugly like you?!** " She yelled even louder.

Naruto froze and his eyes grew wide. The smile dropped from his face and was replaced with sorrow.

"They only reason I would ever say yes would be if you were cool like Sasuke, but you are NOT, so go away!"

She marched away from him with steam coming out of her ears leaving the shocked blonde still frozen in the hallway. But he wasn't alone, the shy Hyuga was peeking out from a wall not that far away from him. And she wasn't guilty of spying or eavesdropping as the girl's outburst was loud enough for the whole village to hear.

Hinata slowly walked closer to the blonde. "N-Naruto-kun?" She looked at his face and almost gasped when she saw tears threatening to fall from his ocean blue eyes which were now cloudy and full of sadness.

 _I'm…ugly…?_ A tear finally escaped onto his whiskered cheek as he finally unfroze and ran out of the Hokage building not noticing Hinata at all.

"Naruto-kun, wait!" Hinata ran after him but upon reaching the end of the hallway she realized that she had lost him.

Her worried expression turned into anger. _How could she say that? Naruto-kun is very handsome and sweet. Why can't she see that?_

Activating her byakugan she scanned the area and quickly found her crush. He was slowly walking down the street dragging his feet a bit with his head down and his hands in his pockets. She ran towards him hoping to catch up to him but almost stopped when she realized that she didn't know what to say to him. Freaking out and running at the same time, instead of catching up to him…she ran straight into his back.

The sudden shove made Naruto yelp in surprise and tumble but he stayed on his feet. Hinata however was on the ground rubbing her nose as she had hit it on a metal buckle on his backpack.

"Ow…" _I cannot do anything right, can I?_

Naruto turned around to see who ran into him. "Oh! Hinata, you ok?" He offered her a hand in concern.

She looked up and almost looked away when blood rushed to her face but her eyes stayed on his face as she noticed that the tears were no longer there, just concern…for her…because she was on her butt now, almost clumsily making him fall over too.

Her cool, shaky hand slowly accepted his warm and strong one and he pulled her up on her feet.

"Where are ya rushin' to?" He asked her with a smile. A smile she knew very well.

It was one of his fake smiles, the one he gave people all the time hiding his sadness, he thought people don't know about it but she would recognize it every time as it wasn't as dazzling as his honest smile. That is one of the things that was so incredible about him, he put everybody else's happiness before his own.

She gulped. "Oh! I w-was j-just…um…" _Come on! Say something!_ "I…n-nowhere really…" _Stupid…_

"Nowhere?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Then if you've got nowhere to be, you can be with me?" He smiled in anticipation for her to answer.

"B-be w-with y-you?" Her brain was going into overload.

"Yeah. I'm going to Ichiraku, you up for a bowl of ramen? My treat." He smiled at her sweetly.

Now her heart was going into overload. That smile…it was a real, honest smile and it was an image that would forever stay in her mind.

Noticing that she was staring into space she quickly snapped out of it. "Oh! I'd love to!" Naruto beamed. 'It's just…" Naruto's smile fell. _Not her too…_

Hinata saw his upset expression. "I-I mean, y-you do not have to p-pay for me I…" She shook her hands frantically in front of her.

Naruto's smile returned. "That's okay! You cooked on the mission. Come on!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her into the ramen stand.

Their lunch was like a dream for her, she secretly thought of it as a date and it probably would have been a blur if it weren't for the actual ramen. She has never eaten at Ichiraku before and she could see why Naruto liked it here so much. The owners were very nice and they treated him well. It's like he had forgotten all about what had happened earlier and his usual cheer had returned. And the actual ramen was really good too, definitely savory and delicious. She was however surprised at the amount of ramen he could eat.

When he introduced her to Ayame and Teuchi she was really shy about being put on the spot and the shyness lasted through the whole meal as she wouldn't really say anything besides smiling and nodding her head here and there.

When they finished the meal they got up and started to walk.

"Um…" Naruto looked away scratching his cheek.

That drew her attention to him. She recognized that movement. Every time he would scratch his cheek before saying something meant that he was nervous about saying it. Curious at that he could possibly be nervous about she turned to him letting him know she was listening to him.

"Well, you said you had nowhere to be right? So…would you mind hanging out with me for a while then?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "O…of c-course."

"Really?" He blinked in surprise.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because…girls really seem not to like me much…" His smile fell again.

She gulped. "I-I d-do…" Her face flushed.

"Huh?" He faced her wide eyed.

"You…you are v-very likeable…in m-my opinion…" They both stopped in the middle of the currently deserted park they got to. Naruto was still starring at her as she mustered all of her courage to speak. "I do not know why they cannot see the real you…you are so s-sweet and…kind and…brave and…s-strong…you have so much self c-confidence…"

Naruto was still speechless. So she continued taking a deep breath. "I admire you so much…you never let anything keep you down…" She looked at him. "So don't let what Sakura said affect you."

He raised his brows in surprise. "Y-you heard that?"

"She was rather loud, Naruto-kun…"

"Oh…"

Silence…

"S-so..." Naruto started, awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Hinata jumped a bit as his stutter surprised her.

"You… don't think I'm ugly… do you?" His head lowered.

"Of course not." She answered instantly and with confidence in her voice.

"Really?" He looked up somewhat.

She nodded quickly.

"Why?" He asked simply and quietly.

"B-because…you…" She twiddled her fingers and took another deep breath. "Y-you have the most b-beautiful eyes I have ever seen…your s-smile is so bright and…dazzling…your hair is very unique and…wild and…your golden tan and…y-your a-adorable w-whiskers…you are very h-handsome to me, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto's smile and blush grew with her every word. No one has ever said anything like that to him. He chuckled heartily and scratched the back of his head, a sign that he was a bit embarrassed.

"Man, Hinata…thanks for that. You really mean it?"

She smiled sweetly and nodded looking away.

"Well…ya know…" He looked at her.

"You're really beautiful too."

Her head snapped towards him in an instant. "M-me? B-beautiful?"

"Uh-huh! Your eyes are so strange but really sparkly, and…your skin is so perfect even thought your tone is really different from mine. And your hair is so…silky and pretty too, and I like your bangs, they look good on you. And I love it when you talk, stutter or not, you have a very pretty voice." He grinned at her but his smile fell after he noticed how wobbly she now looked. "Hey, you ok?"

And with that everything went dark for her as she just fainted. Naruto caught her before she could hit the ground. He jostled her a bit calling out her name, but his concern lessened after he saw a smile on her pretty face. Grabbing her he put her on a nearby bench with her head in his lap as he stroked her silky hair. His fingers went onto her cool cheek that a minute ago was hot from her blush. _Her skin is so soft…her lips are so…_

And with that he started leaning down and capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. _…so sweet…ahh lavender…_

However, when he pulled away there was one thing different about her face…her pearly eyes were now open…wide open…starring at him in shock…

"Oh! Sorry about that, I don't know what I was thinking."

 _Did he just…no way…am I dreaming…no I just woke up…it actually happened! OH MY GOD HE ACTUALY KISSED ME!_

"You ok? Your face is getting really red again." He gently stroked her soft cheek with his thumb.

Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Whatever she wanted to say was trapped in her throat until she finally gathered the courage to say it.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Hina-chan?" He smiled.

Her heart melted at the affectionate nickname. Finally…

"U-umm…" She gulped loudly and squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment.

"C-could y-you k-k-kiss m-me a-again?"

He laughed before their lips met in another sweet kiss…

…and there were many, many, many more kisses to come…


End file.
